Smyrna times., 1887-06-22
Labor and the Drink Evil.

Mr.. POwderly at Lynn talked sensi-
bly, and boldly on the drink evil, and
urged the necessity Of temperance up
on wOrkingmen, as he has often done
before. 1t is pity that so many other
issues of far less consequence have
been permitted to engross the attention
and exhaust the energies of the labor
associations. 1t might have been
thought that with the projection of a
national organization of labor there
would have gone determination to
begin the improvement of the existing
situation by taking hold of and dealing
resOlately with a question the settle
ment of which is so completely in the
hands of those Immediately affected. In
all the matters which involve therelatiOn
between labor and capital settlement is
retarted by conflicting interests and by
the fact that neither of the parties can
decide for both. But this is not the
case as regards the drink evil. Here
Labor has the first and last word.
Here it is independent Here it can
determine the future for itself without
awaiting the consent or agreement of
any other interest. And how powerful
on behalf of sObriety would the Knights
OF Labor and the unions prove if they
put this great vital issue at the head of
all their programmes; if they showed
/ the country and the world that they
meant to begin reform by casting away
the most costly and mischievous bur
den that rests upon their shoulders.
Mr.. POwderly said in his speech at
Lynn: In one PENNSYLVANIA county
in a single year $17,000,O0O was spent
for liquor, and it was estimated that
| Sll ,OO0,0 900 of the amount came from
wOrkingmen." That may VERY we'll he
a just estimate, for it has been calcu-
lated that between $400, 100000 and
S5OO,OO0,0 600 yearly is spent upon drink
by the workingmen of the entire coun-
try. The mere statement of these fig
ures has perhaps little effect, vet they
! possess a strong significance, and the
question they seem to suggest most
emphatically is this: How can the
leaders of Labor think they are direct
ing it to practical ends so long as thew
refrain from dealing directly with a
waste which even now surpasses in
annual amount all the gains in increase
of wages the most sanguine can antici-
pate during the next twenty years
Looking at the matter solely as one OF
profit and loss, how can any practical
man hope to bring Labor up to the
plane of natural possibilities while it is
being drained of its resources by the
saloon? If Il tinancier were asked to
take charge of the business of great
firm which was running behind, and
discovered that full third of its in
come was spent upon drink, and were
told that this outlay must not be cur
tailed or stopped, but that he must find
some new source of revenue to make
up for it, what would he think of the
wisdom, and how would he estimate
the prospects, of that firm?
Yet the wOrkingmen's leaders seem
to think that, though the drink evil is
formidable enough to demand Occa-
siOnal remOnstrance and denunciation,
it is not formidable enough to be made
the object of organized action. This is
"a grave error Ofjudgment Facts and
figures prove that American labor suf-
iers from no external influences a 1.-THE
of the harm which it inilcts upon it.
self; and it is equally clear that this
self-inllicted injury often paralyzes its
efforts to obtain release from the bur
dens which are imposed on it from
without. There are not many stua-
tions in which the sober man is not
master Of his future. There are nc
conditions so favorable that they may
not be neutralized by intemperance
To the drinker opportunities are use.
less. Thrift and drink are incompati-
bic, and without thrift the highest
wages in the world will not bring com.
petence or assurance against penury
There could be no nobler, more practi
cal aim for the great labor organizations
than crusade against the drink evil
That, indeed, would be an Anti-POVer
~ Society which undertook to liberatC
the wUrkmgmen from this curse. Nc
course So absolutely certain to elevate
to enrich, to strengthen, those devoted
to it, could be conceived. The organi
zatiOn, the machinery, is ready, bu
where is the self-denial, the aspiration
the enthusiasm to adapt it to the de
sired end? 1t is not enough to brOacE
the subject here and there, howevel
earnestly it be treated. If anything i.
to be done to stop the fearful waste o
capital, health, character, life itself
which the drink habit entails, ther,
must be a great temperance movement
within the ranks of Labor. Where il
the Peter the Hermit who will preacl
this Crusade ?-NeD York Tribune.